congaplace.com

Hi, could you share conga parts you use in Rock/Funk/Disco/Pop and other non-latin music ?

For funk, disco etc, a loose samba type of pattern works well. Also listen to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield's percussionists for great funk patterns and ideas.

Barrie

Any particular albums or songs ?

Listen to Marvin Gayes "What's going on" classic conga pattern and with Curtis Mayfield try "Move on up" with Master Henry playing his version of guaguanco on congas and bongos...
here is a simple disco pattern.......Tone Tone Slap ...(lead drum). TONE TONE TONE TONE SLAP.....Just try that simple pattern counted 1+ 2 and a 3 + 4 RLR-RLRLR......C IF THAT WORKS FOR YA....JOHNNY CONGA....

Also try Virtual Drummer School. Luis Conte has quite some stuff on there showing rock/pop shuffle etc

It's 11 Euros for 1 month. Here is a sample for you

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w187 ... ckbeat.flv

If you get the latest version of Realplayer you can download flash videos where allowed.

Another one resource:

http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com/

There are some DJ mixes of Afrofunk/afrobeat and stuff like that.
A lot of interesting patterns. And interesting blog as well.

Roka wrote:Another one resource:

http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com/

There are some DJ mixes of Afrofunk/afrobeat and stuff like that.
A lot of interesting patterns. And interesting blog as well.

Awesome find, thanks.

Here's a link to his archived shows on WFMU (New Jersey, USA):
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/RF/

I'm a regular listener, via the internet, of another great WFMU show, "Give the Drummer Some," that has a great mix of old-school latin music, blues, the occasional rumba, classic African pop, jazz, folk, soul, classic old-school reggae, old-school funk,and other goodies. You can listen to the individual sets, which tend to stick to a given genre, which is nice, as I tend to not be a big fan of some types of folk.

http://www.wfmu.org/Playlists/Doug/

Hey Derbeno,

Did you write pattern out by chance? I started to, but being lazy thought I'd see if the work was already done.

Cheers

Darrell

Does virtual drummer provide written music - or do you just watch guys play (that I can do anywhere on youtube)?

JohnnyConga wrote:Listen to Marvin Gayes "What's going on" classic conga pattern and with Curtis Mayfield try "Move on up" with Master Henry playing his version of guaguanco on congas and bongos...
here is a simple disco pattern.......Tone Tone Slap ...(lead drum). TONE TONE TONE TONE SLAP.....Just try that simple pattern counted 1+ 2 and a 3 + 4 RLR-RLRLR......C IF THAT WORKS FOR YA....JOHNNY CONGA....

Hey Johnny, could you write out the pattern for What's Going On for me like you did the disco pattern? Thanks, Torpedo Tom

I believe it's more or less the same as the disco pattern he transcribed, when you play along with the song you will feel where to emphasize certain tones. If you search for 'What's going on?' on Youtube there is a great video of a live performance where the conga player (Eddie 'Bongo' Brown) is very clear, infact Marvin tells him to bring it down a bit.

Barrie

Eddie "Bongo" Brown (13 September 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee – 28 December 1984 in Los Angeles, California) was an African-American musician. Brown played congas, bongos, the gourd and claves for Motown Records' in-house Funk Brothers band. One of his musical influences was Chano Pozo.

Among Brown's best-known performances on Motown recordings include "(I Know) I'm Losing You" by The Temptations, "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Here i am "back in my day" with Gloria Gaynor...chek out the pattern im playing on this tune...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEz3W70 EX-Disco-Conga King hahhaha...Johnny Conga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEz3W701TtY ok try this one..."JC" Johnny Conga

^ THAT"S what congas should sound like in the MIX! (volume, etc)
That's when music was cool and positive.
Horns, harmony and drummers that knew how to lay down a groove and KEEP it there.

Nice work JC. You still gots them pants?

This is one of my favourite funk patterns (from Manu Dibango's "new bell")
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P2CgvK5oWz4
Obvoiusly it's coming from an African angle, but I use variations on this style for lots of 16th note disco/jazz funk kind of stuff..
P.S. This is my first post here, but I've been reading these forums for a while - Hi Guys!!
Rory